Helicopter flying in clients for high hunt gpw

[JDHasty]

There is no 24 hour rule in Washington...that's in Alaska...I know guys who used to use Cascade Helicopters out of Cashmere to fly into various places but I think there is no longer a Cascade Helicopter outfit. Anyway, I view it as no different than hiring a packer to take you in via horseback...

And our High Hunt spot was crazy with people this I as I am assuming it was from the fires taking away several other places to enter the normal haunts of the other hunters. We still saw some nice bucks and a bear...a great weekend, but dry, hot, and popular.

Grade

It is absolutely illegal to hunt the same day you've flown, in Washington - pursuant to the WAC below.

4.   Using aircraft (WAC 220-413-070):
It is illegal to:
• Use an aircraft to spot, locate, or report
the location of wildlife for the purpose
of hunting.
• Hunt big game on the same day you
were airborne for any purpose, except
for a regularly scheduled commercial
flight.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/oct/24/landers-tougher-law-trespassing-hunters/

[baker5150]

Id be more interested in getting a flight out of some of the hell holes I hike into and kill a deer.   to heck with the flight in, my pack is 100 lbs lighter going in.

That would be nice. But a helicopter company cannot fly wild game out of the USFS land, unless it's a commercial airstrip. Also from my understanding of the wilderness land act helicopters cannot fly into wilderness areas. The only exception I've heard of is a the helicopter company gets a waiver/amendment from the USFS for fire fighting, personal injury, or sometimes construction.

https://heli-ski.com/

 

They are limited by their use permits to landing only at specific sites during a specific time frame.  They can't operate willy-nilly.

Regardless, they are still allowed to access with a helicopter.  I'm not sure where guys are getting their info about no access being allowed.

[Knocker of rocks]

Regardless, they are still allowed to access with a helicopter.  I'm not sure where guys are getting their info about no access being allowed.

Those comments were made in relation to the fact that helicopters and planes, including airdrops, are not allowed in wilderness areas.  There are exceptions, Lake Isabel in Washington and various airstrips in Idaho and Montana that existed prior to the creation of those wilderness areas.  Then even outside designated wilderness, but inside USFS lands, helicopter use is limited to those with a use permit, and often limited to specific landing sites.

[Knocker of rocks]

Helo sightings were caused by a big name outdoor sports channel star ferrying in his camp, gear and film crew for a hunting show.

It would be nice to know where he landed.  I'm wondering if on the Chiwawa-Entiat divide, south of the GPW.

No amount of stardom or permits would allow a landing inside the wilderness.

[Skyvalhunter]

I have some buddies that were in the Napeequa I can ask if they saw or heard anything.

[eburgtrapper]

Helo sightings were caused by a big name outdoor sports channel star ferrying in his camp, gear and film crew for a hunting show.

It would be nice to know where he landed.  I'm wondering if on the Chiwawa-Entiat divide, south of the GPW.

No amount of stardom or permits would allow a landing inside the wilderness.

They were flying up the chiwawa river basin towards red mountain. I saw three different helicopters, two had would looked like water buckets for fire on a 100' or so rope. Not sure the length. The third chopper had a net packing stuff. The were taking off from the mine at trinity.

[R2Rcoulee]

R2Rcouleee...not sure where you got your info...but aircraft (including helicopters) fly into the USFS all the time, especially in Alaska, all they need is a special use permit. I know of a fishing guide on Lake Chelan that has a FS Special Use Permit to pick up and drop off people (and wild game when taken by a hunter). The permit is for transportation only so no guiding, but a helicopter would need the same special use permit. Again, Cascade Helicopters used to do this all the time. We hired them back in the early 2000's to help haul gear into Crow Cabin and put a new metal roof on it...and that was in the backcountry.

Grade

I was talking about wilderness areas & helos just can't fly in and drop guys off.. I do federal contracts every year with USFS and a lot of those contracts I have to hire helicopter companies.  This year I ask a Idaho helicopter company I do a lot of work with about flying me into the back country. They said they could fly me in on USFS land, but not wilderness. They also said that if I got a deer, than they could not pick me up because they couldn't fly wild game out unless it was a commercial airstrip.

[R2Rcoulee]

Maybe the Idaho Heli Co didn't have the permits take wild game out. They just told me they couldn't do it. But in the wilderness helicopters just can't fly in & out hunters.  Look what happened to the USFS  in the Frank Church Wilderness in regards to helicopters in the wilderness.
https://www.google.com/amp/amp.idahostatesman.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article134378629.html

[Knocker of rocks]

They were flying up the chiwawa river basin towards red mountain. I saw three different helicopters, two had would looked like water buckets for fire on a 100' or so rope. Not sure the length. The third chopper had a net packing stuff. The were taking off from the mine at trinity.

I wonder if indeed they were in fact fire fighting.  Another possibility would be flying to private land near Holden, or possibly private land up the Chiwawa.  You can see an old road going up hill out of the upper Chiwawa Basin east towards Spider Meadows.  I think that serviced a now defunct pattened mine, and once on the ridge one could roam in several directions.

[sooperfly]

Did you by chance get the N Number?  Maybe take a picture?

If so, you could look up the owner and contact them?

Reason I ask is, a few years ago there was a heli with a large apparatus underneath the fuselage flying a crazy pattern really low around Wenatchee.  Maybe 200 to 250 feet.  He went over our office a few times so I snapped a pic, looked up the N Number and emailed the owner!

He responded promptly and said they had a BLM contract for doing the Columbia Basin watershed mapping study with LIDAR.  ( that was the unit under the heli ).   

So.... wouldn't hurt to ask maybe?   

[teanawayslayer]

From what I saw they did not fly into the neepequa. They went up river towards the basin. And to the north of phelps ridge. Every time they landed at trinity you could see 3-4 guys with gear getting in. 1/2 hour round trips. They started flying around 9 and the last one I heard was around 2. One trip they had a cable and were hauling something in.  The last I saw there were 8 rigs parked in trinity the next day they were not there. Someone moved them out.

[Skyvalhunter]

Look like federal rigs or were they just run of the mill private looking rigs?

[j_h_nimrod]

I like Alaska's stance on helicopters for hunting, not allowed in any way, shape, or form.

Hard to say what they were doing, but it is hard to imagine most commercial outfits risking federal prosecution to fly a couple lazy hunters to their camp. There is the possibility of flying to a few bastions of patent land but they would not support enough groups very close to touchdown to make it worthwhile if you are flying in guys willing to pay an absolute minimum of $30 a minute for a flight.

[teanawayslayer]

Look like federal rigs or were they just run of the mill private looking rigs?

run of the mill private helo's

[couesbitten]

Look like federal rigs or were they just run of the mill private looking rigs?

run of the mill private helo's

Pretty sure Skyval meant the rigs parked at Trinity.